Mark Pellington Hired To Remake The Orphanage

I'll give the producers of The Orphanage remake a little credit: at least they've already surprised us. Variety is reporting that New Line has selected U2 3D director Mark Pellington to handle their English-language remake of Juan Antonio Bayona's 2007 film, with Guillermo del Toro on board as a producer as well as a co-screenwriter.

Del Toro was a "creative supervisor" on the original film, having basically helped Bayona get the film made, and it's unclear exactly how much he'll be able to help keep the new film from being an utter travesty. Pellington as a director seems like he could go either way-- his previous horror effort The Mothman Prophecies wasn't completely loathed by critics, but little indie Henry Poole is Here barely got a release and found minimal critical support. It's not like he's one of those guys who's already handled a terrible American remake of a foreign horror gem, but nothing about his work thus far exactly promises success.

It goes without saying that there isn't really a good reason to remake this movie to begin with, especially given that the fairly typical haunted house plot of The Orphanage is only elevated by Bayona's stylish direction. We've seen enough J-horror remakes to know that the same premise can go horribly wrong when remade poorly; will Pellington just be another perpetrator of the same trend?